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« on: August 08, 2023, 11:09:59 am » |
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THE idea which like a whirlwind had upset all French’s previous assumptions was very simple. Was it possible that Earle’s theory and Earle’s book were really valuable, so valuable that they would make the name of their author? Was it possible that Campion should have known this and stolen the manuscript? And to enable him to get the benefit of his theft, could he have killed Earle?
Campion guilty of Earle’s murder! Here was something to think about! Surely the idea was too far-fetched? Campion was a reasonably successful man, comfortably off now and with an assured, if not a very brilliant, future. He had surely too much to lose to run the terrible risks of committing murder simply to gain professional fame?
French was not so sure. The man might be vain, and vanity is one of the most potent springs of human action. To have his name handed down reverentially, like Harvey’s or Pasteur’s, he might risk a great deal.
French rapidly considered, while to cloak his concentration he took out and laboriously consulted his notebook, “to make sure he had asked everything and would not have to come back and trouble the doctor again”.
He saw at once that this theory raised again the old problem of the nurse. If Campion had murdered Earle, what had happened to Miss Nankivel? It was absurd to suppose that Campion could have murdered her too.
In three seconds French decided that he could leave this problem over for the present. There was probably nothing in his new idea, but he mustn’t miss this opportunity of finding out more about it.
“Well, Dr. Campion,” he said, “I’m very much obliged for what you’ve told me. That’s everything except just for one technical point which I require in order to complete my report. In a murder case, as I’m sure you know, it is the duty of the investigating officer to ask everyone concerned where he or she was at the time of the crime. We don’t know that this is a murder, but it conceivably might be so, and if in your case you will give me that information, it’ll probably save my troubling you again.”
Campion looked keenly at his visitor, then smiled wryly. “I’ve heard you did that,” he replied, “but I don’t quite see how I am one of those concerned.”
“Only, sir, in the sense that you were a person---how shall I describe it?---in Dr. Earle’s environment. You were his partner. The thing is a matter of form. If I went to London without such information I should be sent back to get it.”
“It’s all right,” Campion said resignedly. “I don’t mind telling you. Where do you want me to begin?”
When he was about it French might as well cover six o’clock, when the nurse was supposed to reach the Hog’s Back.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he answered, as if to make light of the question. “Say from lunch-time. What time did you have lunch?”
“The usual time, I believe---half-past one.”
“Very well,” French agreed; “that gives us a start. What happened after lunch?”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you want this for, seeing Dr. Earle was alive and well for another six or eight hours. However, I suppose you know your own business.” He took a small engagement book from his pocket and turned over the pages. “After lunch: I’m really not sure. I think I sat and read for a time, but I may have come out here. I had to pay some calls and I went out---I’m not sure: after three, I think. I paid---one, two---four calls in all, and then came back here. Miss Stone was spending the afternoon here and I went into the drawing-room at once. Then----”
“About what time did you get back here? Can you remember?”
Campion paused in thought. “I can’t,” he said at length. “Somewhere about half-past six, I should think, but I’m not sure.”
“Where did you have tea, sir? That might bring the time to your mind.”
“With the Slaters near Puttenham: that was the last call I paid. They were going to tea as I was leaving and they asked me to join them. I did so and sat for half an hour chatting.”
“So that you drove home somewhere between 5.30 and 6.30?”
“Yes, so far as I remember.”
“Very good, sir. Then you came back here, and went to the drawing-room. What happened then?”
“I can tell you that,” Campion declared. “I remember it all very clearly. Miss Stone was spending the evening with us, as I said. Well just before supper she asked me if I would show her my workshop; my sister had been bumming about the cost and the splendour of my tools. I agreed, of course. Now while I like Miss Stone personally, I abominate hen parties and I looked round for some excuse to keep out of the drawing-room after supper. I noticed a packet of parts for a dolls’ house which I had intended to make up for a small patient who had died, and I offered to make them up for Miss Stone. You know, I suppose, that she’s connected with a children’s hospital in Bath? She was pleased with the idea, so after supper I assembled the thing. When it was finished I went to the drawing-room, and almost at once we started off for St. Kilda: the whole party of us.”
“They’re very good, those dolls’ house packets. Which one did you choose?”
“The Handicraft people’s Romeo Special.”
“A beautiful model,” French commented. “Now can you tell me, doctor, about what time you came to the workshop and returned to the drawing-room?”
“I came here immediately after supper; I suppose that would be about eight. I reached the drawing-room at---- Let’s see now, I don’t know that I can tell you that. About half-past nine, I think. No; earlier, because they took a solid quarter of an hour to throw wraps round their shoulders, and we arrived at St. Kilda at quarter to ten. I noted the time as soon as I heard about Earle. I must have reached the drawing-room about quarter or twenty past nine.”
From 8 to 9.15 or 9.20. And Earle disappeared at 8.40. Could Campion possibly . . .?
“From eight o’clock to 9.15 is the critical period, doctor. I’m making no insinuations, but can you prove that you were in your workshop during that time?”
“No, of course I cannot,” Campion rejoined irritably. “And why should I? Are you accusing me of kidnapping Earle?”
“I told you, sir, I was accusing you of nothing. All the same, if you can prove where you were during that time it would be so much to the good. Did no one see you at any time between those hours?”
Campion moved jerkily. “What the hell difference does it make whether anyone saw me or whether they didn’t?” he asked angrily. “If you don’t suspect me, it doesn’t matter. If you do, I’m not going to answer you. I don’t see what you’re getting at.”
French shrugged. “Well, sir, you can take that line if you like. At the same time, I don’t see why you should mind answering. If you refuse, of course I automatically suppose you have something to hide. However, it’s a matter for yourself.”
French’s moderation cooled Campion down. “I’ve not the slightest objection to telling you anything I know,” he declared. “What I dislike is the insinuation behind your question. However, I can’t help that. No one came into the workshop, and no one can tell whether I was here or not. On the other hand, I went into the house. I went in to consult Miss Stone on how she would like the dolls’ house finished.”
“What hour was that, Dr. Campion?”
“I don’t really know. Somewhere about half-way through the time, because the job was about half done. But I couldn’t tell you exactly.”
“That would be somewhere about twenty minutes to nine?”
“I expect so.”
“Well, sir, if you can’t go nearer to it, you can’t. Then you drove over to St. Kilda?”
Campion made a sudden gesture. “Your saying that reminds me,” he declared. “When I went into the drawing-room the question arose of how Miss Stone was returning to St. Kilda. She had wanted to go by bus and I had said I would run her over. I remember now thinking that if she was going by the bus she would have to start at once. The bus passes the end of our road about five minutes past nine, and it takes about a quarter of an hour to walk to the end of the road. She would have had to leave about a quarter to nine. I must have gone in about twenty-five to nine, or a minute or two later.”
French saw that if this were true Campion could scarcely have had anything to do with Earle’s disappearance. Not indeed that he had really seriously suspected Campion, but still . . . Better to be sure than sorry.
“Very good, sir. That seems to clear the thing up. Then you drove over to St. Kilda?” And he pursued his enquiries.
Presently he thanked Campion for his information and went back to the house. Could he speak to Miss Campion for a moment?
Alice Campion saw him at once. He explained himself and put his questions, then sat waiting while the spate of talk flowed over him. He had asked for details of what took place in the drawing-room between supper and the departure for St. Kilda, and he certainly got them. Full measure, pressed down, running over.
Her statement, which French implicitly believed, confirmed Campion’s on every point. There was no doubt that Campion had been in his own drawing-room at the time at which Earle had left his house, over five miles away. And Flo Campion, whom French next questioned, told the same story with equal conviction.
This testimony satisfied French. However, to make assurance doubly sure, he stopped at the first call office he came to and rang up Handicrafts Ltd. to know how long it should take a skilful carpenter to assemble their Romeo Special dolls’ house set. When he was told about an hour and a half, the last doubt vanished. Without a pang he abandoned his theory that Campion had killed Earle for the manuscript. Indeed, he now saw that he had never really believed in it.
Returning to Farnham, his way led past St. Kilda, and he called for a few minutes to try to find out where James Earle had been about six o’clock on the Sunday afternoon of his disappearance. He was the one most likely to have met the nurse, and proof that he had done so would be very acceptable.
French, however, was unable to obtain any information on the point. Mrs. Earle thought the doctor was in his study, Miss Lawes believed he was out, and neither Miss Stone nor the servant knew anything about him.
French was disappointed. However, as he rode back to Farnham he told himself he could not expect always to score a bull’s eye. Better luck to-morrow!
Next morning was once again fine, and in a mood of reasonable optimism he turned into the police station to see Sheaf.
“Tell me,” he asked after the usual greetings, “something about these Frazers: the old man who died recently and his family.”
“What’s the trouble about them?” the super grunted.
“Only that this Nurse Nankivel was there for the twelve weeks previous to Frazer’s death, and I want to find out if she was meeting Earle during that time.”
Sheaf nodded, sat back in his chair and produced the inevitable box of cigarettes. “I don’t know much about them,” he said, “except what’s pure gossip. If you want anything definite, you’ll have to get it for yourself. Compton’s a good distance away, and quite out of my district.”
“I understand that of course, super.”
“Well, as you know, the old man lived near Compton; between Compton and the Hog’s Back. He had a nice place there; fine garden and all that. Mrs. Frazer, I believe, was his second wife, and so far as I am aware there were no children by either marriage. The old boy is supposed to have led her a pretty dance; a crotchety, miserly old ruffian, according to the tales going about, and she seems to have had a hell of a time nursing him and looking after him and running messages for him. Pretty well-to-do old boy too: presumably that’s why she married him. He’s supposed to have left about a hundred thousand.”
“To her?”
“Partially, according to the stories. I heard she got the house and about two-thirds of the income during her life. There is a nephew; he lives there and potters about the place. Apparently he gets the other third of the capital now, and all the rest at the wife’s death. But you mustn’t take any of this for gospel. If any of it matters, you’ll have to check it up.”
“I don’t think it does matter,” French returned, “except to give me a general idea of the sort of people I’m likely to find. Right, super. Many thanks. Will you be busy this evening before quitting time?”
“Not specially.”
“Then if you don’t mind, I’d like a chat about the case. I’ve an idea I’ve gone far enough.”
The super nodded and French went out. Once again commandeering the sergeant’s bicycle, he set off along the winding road through Seale and Puttenham to Compton.
Before reaching the latter village he found himself reminded of his Dorset case. Here earthworks were in progress, first parallel to, and then crossing, the road and disappearing in the direction of the Hog’s Back. The Whitness Widening on a Lilliputian scale! The new by-pass road, this must be. This work which he was looking at must continue to the new bridge under the Hog’s Back, a bridge he had noticed many times: the bridge at which Earle and Nurse Nankivel were to meet on the Sunday of their disappearance.
French was a good deal more interested in the bypass than he would have been before his Dorset visit. He remembered what he had heard of it. It was to run from just north of Guildford to just south of Godalming, cutting out both towns. A very much-needed improvement, he thought, from what he had seen of the traffic in both of them. In a way he would have never dreamed of doing a year earlier, he now looked at the work: almost indeed from the point of view of an engineer!
He found that the workings ran parallel to the road from Compton Corner to the Hog’s Back, and he cycled slowly along, dismounting at intervals to walk across the field to the left and have a look at what was going on. First he came to filling. A small locomotive was bringing down trucks of material which was being dumped to form a bank across some low-lying ground. French observed with interest that side tipping was in progress; that is, that a narrow bank of the proper height had first been made, and that this was now being widened to the full width of the new road.
Though he had by this time reached the gate to the Frazers’ place, he could not resist pushing on past it for a short distance to see some more of the workings. Soon the filling ran out and cutting took its place. This got deeper, running first through soil, then bringing to light a bed of heavy yellow clay, and finally reaching chalk. For a few moments French stood watching a steam shovel taking out great bites of the clay, each bite filling a wagon. This clay was going down to widen the bank he had first seen.
With a half-sigh---French had an Irishman’s love of doing other people’s jobs---he turned back, and passing through an ornate gateway, bearing on each pillar the name “Polperro,” he rode up the Frazers’ drive. Sheaf had certainly not exaggerated the beauty of the place. Its great glory was its trees. There were elms fringing the drive at either side, and oaks standing at intervals in the green sward, which looked as if they might have been growing there in the days of Elizabeth. Probably they were. The place gave that impression of peace and security which so many of these old English estates bear, the suggestion that time and shocks were powerless to alter its placid and unhurried existence.
The house, when it came into view, was unexpectedly small and unexpectedly old. French was not an expert in such matters, but he had seen through some of the more famous of the old Kent and Surrey houses, and guessed it fifteenth century. It had a tower in the façade, nearly, but not quite, in the centre, with a gateway which would have taken, if not a carriage and pair, at least two horsemen riding abreast. Two wings stretched out on either side of the tower, of different heights, different window spacings and different lengths. The walls below were of old rubble masonry, with half-timbering above of black and twisted oak, leading up to a high-pitched roof of mellow brown tiles. It looked to French like the front portion of a square surrounding a courtyard, and he found afterwards that it had been so, but that the other three sides had been destroyed by fire in the reign of the second Charles. In front, replacing the old moat, was a sunk garden, and to the right of the building French could see a large range of glass houses.
Ringing at the door he sent in his official card, asking if Mrs. Frazer could see him. He was shown into a room panelled and ceiling-joisted in old black oak, with whitewashed rubble between the two. Only the windows and the electric light pendants seemed modern, the former having been evidently enlarged at some comparatively recent time. The fireplace was like a small ante-room, and an electric fire shone like a beacon beneath the huge stone chimney opening.
French had not more than time to observe these details when the lady of the house entered. Mrs. Frazer was tall and fair and good-looking. “Forty, if she’s a day,” thought French, “and knows her own mind.” She invited him to sit down and shortly asked his business.
“I’m engaged on this case of the disappearance of Dr. Earle,” he answered, “and in the course of my investigations I have discovered that a nurse who was with you here, during the illness of the late Mr. Frazer, has also disappeared: Nankivel, her name was.”
Mrs. Frazer registered mild surprise, but not much interest and no feeling.
“Very remarkable and unfortunate,” she commented. “Yes?”
“I wished, madam, to make some enquiries about Nurse Nankivel. I am, of course, now trying to trace her as well as Dr. Earle.”
“Naturally, but I’m afraid I cannot give you much help. I met the nurse frequently while she was here, but that was invariably in her professional capacity. I know nothing of her in her private life.”
“Quite, madam. You also knew Dr. Earle?”
“I have met him, but only in the same way.”
“Then you cannot, I suppose, tell me whether these two met otherwise than professionally during the nurse’s stay here?”
“No,” said Mrs. Frazer, coldly and finally.
“The nurse gave satisfaction while she was here?”
“Oh yes; I had no fault to find with her.”
French expressed his thanks, adding that he was afraid he would have to ask similar questions to her staff.
She agreed with the same cold lack of interest, and ringing, told the butler to answer anything French might ask him, and to see that the other servants did the same. Then with a slight bow she left the room.
The butler, Marks, lost the rigidity of an automaton which he had assumed in his mistress’s presence, indicating that he did not consider French had any pretentions to social position. He answered all his questions with readiness, but without conveying much information. Most of what he did tell was about the family and practically nothing about Nurse Nankivel. It seemed that he for one was sorry about the old man’s death. Frazer had evidently been a crotchety and fault-finding employer, but Marks clearly believed Mrs. Frazer would be worse. Obviously he actively disliked her.
Nor did he seem to care much for the nephew, Gates. Gates had a small suite on the first floor, and since his return from Australia some four years earlier, had lived at Polperro. He acted as a sort of secretary-agent for his deceased uncle, who liked him and was believed to have paid him a considerable salary. The work he did, however, was a mere bagatelle. His real interest in life, so the butler indicated with knowing winks, was horseflesh. He and his friend Mr. Slade attended all the races in the country, and betted heavily on them all. Indeed---the butler lowered his voice and became extraordinarily confidential---Mr. Gates was believed to be in low water. He had been, so Marks said, touching his uncle for every penny he could get out of him. They had had some pretty serious disagreements, if not actual quarrels, on the subject. Marsden, the chauffeur, had heard one of these quarrels when passing outside the library window, and Frazer had then threatened to disinherit the nephew if he did not pull himself together. But they had apparently patched the affair up, for Gates was left a handsome slice of the old man’s money, besides being residuary legatee. Mrs. Frazer was left the interest on £60,000 and the house for her lifetime, Gates getting the rest, some £30,000. About Nurse Nankivel, except that she was a “nice girl”, the man knew little, but he recommended French to apply to the gardener’s wife, with whom she seemed to have struck up an acquaintance. She was on duty during the day, but usually went out from four to six, when sometimes Mrs. Frazer and sometimes Gates watched in the sick-room. He had mentioned a Mr. Slade? Yes, it was the gentleman who lived at Altadore, Colonel Dagger’s brother-in-law. He had been a frequent visitor, both to Gates and the Frazers.
All this was told with a very convincing air, but when French asked Marks how he knew it, it lost a great deal of its force. Apparently most of it was gossip, founded on the not necessarily sound deductions of the staff. French, however, knew how well up servants usually are in the affairs of their employers, and he imagined that a considerable substratum of truth underlay the statements.
In his painstaking way he went on interviewing member after member of the staff, till he had questioned them all. He did not, however, learn much more. The chauffeur, Marsden, repeated the story of the conversation he had overheard between uncle and nephew. Mrs. Frazer was liked by no one, and Gates’ sporting proclivities were common property. All had a good word for Nurse Nankivel, but except for the fact that her afternoon walks had been usually taken outside the grounds, no one knew much about her.
With one exception. When in the course of his investigations he interviewed the head gardener’s wife, she told him a little more. Mrs. Carling had evidently been fond of the missing woman, and seemed glad to give any help she could towards her discovery. Nurse Nankivel, she said, was a pleasant jolly girl, and she, Mrs. Carling, had enjoyed her frequent afternoon visits and the walks they had together. The nurse had been in good spirits all the time she was at Polperro, until about a week before Mr. Frazer died, when she suddenly became depressed and anxious-looking. Mrs. Carling had asked if anything was wrong, but Miss Nankivel had replied evasively. When she was saying good-bye she had begged Mrs. Carling to write to her and keep her posted in the Polperro news. Mrs. Carling had done so, once, but she had had no reply. Mrs. Carling was greatly distressed about her friend’s disappearance and did not for a moment believe that the girl’s own actions had in any way contributed towards it.
The mention of a letter at once interested French. Tanner had told him that the nurse had certainly received one, and was believed to have received two, letters while at Bryanston Square. The first one, the doubtful one, she was thought to have had on or about Thursday, the 29th of September—that is, ten days before her disappearance. The second she had undoubtedly received on the Tuesday following, four days before the disappearance. Of these, the first was believed to have added a good deal to her perturbation of mind. The second she seemed to have been anxiously expecting.
“When did you write your letter, Mrs. Carling?” asked French.
The lady was afraid she could scarcely tell him; she thought five or six days after the nurse had left, but she wasn’t sure. French thereupon got down to it.
By dint of painstaking suggestions he fixed the date. She had really written to tell the nurse about the funeral, and she had described this and the reading of the will and Mrs. Frazer’s and Mr. Gates’ reactions on becoming wealthy; all as described to her husband by the butler. This proved it was written on or after Tuesday the 27th, the date of the funeral. On the other hand, she had not mentioned a slight accident to her little son which had taken place on the 29th, and she certainly would have done so had it then happened. The letter must therefore have been written on the 27th or 28th.
This certainly looked as if it might have been the letter believed to have been received by the nurse on the 29th, and which had so much increased her anxiety. On the other hand, try as French would, he was unable to discover anything in Mrs. Carling’s letter which could have so upset her.
Taking leave of Mrs. Carling, French went back to the main house and asked to see Gates. He was laid up with bronchitis, it appeared, and in bed. French, however, sent up his card, thinking that as the man was probably bored he might see him. Whatever the reason, French’s action was justified, for he was asked to go up to the bedroom.
As he entered Dr. Campion was leaving.
“Hullo, inspector! Still at it?” he called as French stood aside to let him pass. “Got any further?”
“Getting on, doctor,” French returned. “Slow, you know, sir, but terribly sure.”
Campion laughed. “I always back the snails and tortoises myself,” he declared as he went downstairs.
Gates, who was sitting up in an arm-chair at the fire, was a big man, about the same height as Campion, but of a heavier build. His fiery red hair and long moustache were greying, and his eyes were blue and dancing with intelligence. His rough-hewn features and massive chin suggested strength, and his manner gave French the impression of a man who would not be easily turned from his purpose.
“Very good of you, sir, to see me when you’re not feeling well,” said French. “I just want to ask a question or two on the chance that you may be able to help me.”
“Sit down,” said Gates in a deep booming voice. “I’m all right. I’ll be out to-morrow. What did you want to ask me?”
French explained about Nurse Nankivel and said he was trying to find someone who had seen her on her daily walks or at other times when off duty. “I want to find out if she had made any local acquaintances,” he went on, “and it occurred to me that you might possibly have seen her talking to someone.”
Gates hadn’t. He knew nothing about her. He had seen her of course, as he had frequently gone in to the sick-room to sit with his uncle. The nurse had been there, though she usually left them alone together. She seemed “all right”, but he had never taken much notice of her.
French did not take to the man. He spoke in a loud blustering way, and French was sure that if he was crossed, he would be nasty. After the subject of the nurse had been exhausted, French stayed for a moment chatting. “You must have seen life in Australia, sir?” he suggested, and Gates, rising to this, told a few of his experiences. He had, it appeared, worked at most things out there. He had farmed sheep, he had dug for gold, he had knocked about on the water-front of Sydney, apparently at one time being next thing to down and out. French would have liked to hear his story, but as his curiosity was only idle, he could not well ask for it. With a polite word of thanks he therefore took his leave.
His enquiries at Polperro had not been particularly productive; in fact, he could scarcely have learned less than he had. He wondered if the second nurse, Nurse Henderson, could tell him more.
From the nearest call office he rang up Sister Austin at the Chelsea nursing-home. Could she tell him the present whereabouts of Nurse Henderson? Oh, at Bramley, was she? Thanks very much.
French felt he could not but take advantage of so wonderful a stroke of luck. Bramley was close by, not more than five miles from where he was standing. Without further consideration he pedalled off.
He had no trouble in running Nurse Henderson to earth. She was on day duty and saw him at once. On hearing his business she at once grew keenly interested, and he saw that she had been much attached to her missing colleague. She was younger than Helen Nankivel, probably by four or five years. French sized her up as a pleasant unaffected girl, and by no means a fool.
He thought it better to take her into his full confidence, and therefore told her of the suspected understanding between the missing woman and Dr. Earle. Nurse Henderson was scornful, indeed utterly sceptical of the idea.
“Oh no,” she said, “nurse was not that kind of woman. You’ve made a mistake there, inspector, I’m certain.”
“You may be right,” French admitted. “I’m only trying to get information to build a theory on. Tell me, have you got any theory as to what might have happened?”
Nurse Henderson had none. To her the disappearance was a tragedy. Terribly upset as at a personal loss, she admitted her dread that her friend must be dead.
“Oh,” said French, “don’t say that. We have no information so far to warrant such a conclusion.”
“You have her disappearance,” the young woman returned. “How else can you explain it?”
French did not repeat his explanation. He busied himself without much success in trying to get further information about the missing woman.
According to Nurse Henderson, Helen Nankivel was happy and contented in her job. She had a little money, not enough to live on, but enough to make her reasonably comfortable when added to her nurse’s salary. She had no worries, or none of any magnitude. Her health was good. She was not unhappy through any affair of the heart. In fact, she had no reason to take any drastic action with a view to changing her lot.
French was slightly puzzled as he rode back to Farnham to have his talk with Sheaf. No one who had known Nurse Nankivel accepted his theory of her having gone off with Dr. Earle, but none of these people gave any reason for their belief other than that they did not think she was that kind of woman. Moreover, while he had expected to have been able to trace communications between the two missing persons, he had so far failed to do so. On the other hand, no theory other than his own had been put forward, nor could he himself think of an alternative.
Having fortified himself with a cup of tea---it was just five o’clock---French reached the police station and went in to see Sheaf.
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